UConn's Dan Hurley Predicts Huge Surge for Junior Guard
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As the No. 5 UConn Huskies gets set for another game at Madison Square Garden, Dan Hurley had some interesting things to say. Perhaps, because this next matchup is against the Florida Gators. The Huskies last played against the Gators in March, ending in a 75-77 loss for the Huskies. However, this time around, the Huskies are moving differently and are sitting on an 8-1 record.
And Hurley made it clear that he expects Solo Ball to flip the switch this time. Last season, Ball buried 99 threes and shot over 41 percent from deep, a breakout that turned him into a cornerstone of UConn’s perimeter attack.
However, this year, the early numbers haven’t been as kind. Ball’s three-point average sits below 30 percent through nine games and has made only 17 threes. That statistical dip that makes the optimism from Hurley all the more intriguing and intentional.
As Hurley puts it, “I think when you’re looking at three-point numbers, if you look at Boogie Fland or (Xavian) Lee or Solo Ball, they’re not shooting the three at the level they have throughout their careers. You’re just waiting for those numbers to come back closer to the mean. I would say for us, relative to Solo, he’s going to end up having to guard one of those two guys.”
SOLO BALL ... IT'S HAMMER TIME pic.twitter.com/zAzXsJAZiA
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) December 6, 2025
Hurley is not wrong. Florida’s star players, Boogie Fland and Xavian Lee, haven’t hit their career norms from deep either. Then again, it is only December. However, to make it more interesting, Ball will be guarding one of the two. Florida’s perimeter play has been fast and relentless, even in a 5–3 start that’s come against a brutal schedule.
Fland is averaging 12.5 per game, Lee continues to evolve as a creator while averaging 8.4 points and 4.8 rebounds. Together, they will test UConn’s point-of-attack defense. The Jimmy V Classic returns UConn to its unofficial second home, aka Madison Square Garden, where Hurley is 16–8 overall and 6–2 in non-conference regular-season games.
Additionally, this is a rivalry that carries weight. In fact, Ball himself, not so long ago, weighed in too.
“The rematch with Florida is circled on my calendar. I didn’t play the way I wanted to," he said.
Now, Hurley seems to think that Ball is on the verge of living up to his words.
Solo Ball is looking forward to a rematch vs the Gators 👀
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) October 21, 2025
UConn vs Florida on December 9th will be box office 🍿
(via @DalyDoseOfHoops ) pic.twitter.com/9HqktFGuKJ
“I think Solo is going to get hot, and his three-point numbers, when it’s all said and done, are going to look like they did last year by the end of the season,” Hurley said. And if he doesn’t, the Huskies must lean on something else entirely.
Dan Hurley Turns to Silas Demary Jr. and Solo Ball to Anchor UConn’s Defensive Edge
If the offense has taken time to sync, the defense has arrived early.
“The biggest area that has allowed our team to be successful this year is the defensive improvement of the team. A lot of that has to do with Silas, and a lot of that has to do with some of the returning guys becoming better defenders than they were last year. They went from not-good defensive players to being average, above-average, even pretty good defenders," Hurley said.
The stats back him up. UConn holds opponents to 60.4 points per game, sits top-20 nationally in field-goal defense at 37.4% and three-point defense is at 26.8%. They force nearly 14 turnovers per night.
The Huskies’ assist-to-turnover ratio sits at 1.9, and their scoring margin of +19.7 is built on rotations and perimeter pressure rather than pure offensive firepower. Silas Demary Jr. has played a big role in creating those numbers.
Demary Jr. has been the guard who keeps UConn’s defense glued together. He’s already logged multiple games with 3+ steals, grabbed 5–10 rebounds in several others, and consistently blows up sets before they start. And Hurley is not blind to the numbers or production of the team.
With the Florida game on Tuesday here’s 57 seconds of our Point Guard Silas Demary Jr effortlessly scoring 21 points vs them last year 😂🔥pic.twitter.com/QRR17zLFA8
— Husky Report (@TheHuskyReport_) December 8, 2025
“The difference with Solo, and the difference with our team, is that we’re bringing a defense to the court that can sustain us when we have off shooting nights. And when we’re playing against another really good defense, we can win a game with our defense. Last year, we could literally never win a game with our defense. Here, our defense shows up,” Hurley added.
In the win over East Texas A&M, UConn allowed just 38.9 percent from the field, turned turnovers into 18 points, and shredded the paint battle 58–22. Evidently, UConn no longer needs Ball to be perfect from deep to win, but if he does heat up the way Hurley expects, the Huskies shift from dangerous to devastating.
And with Florida waiting under the Midtown lights, that shift might arrive right on time.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.